The MR2 And Celica Could Return In Toyota's Sports Car Offensive

Toyota used to make some brilliant sports cars, didn’t it? The company’s line-up in the 1990s had some corkers in it, but one by one, they were discontinued. Up until recently, the GT86 was the shining light in an otherwise dull stable.

But things are changing. The Supra is coming back for one thing, but that’s just the start, with the company’s new ‘GR’ sub-brand opening up multiple sports car possibilities.

During a roundtable interview with Supra chief engineer Tetsuya Tada at the 24 Hours of Le Mans - where it was also revealed a Supra GRMN is in the works - Car Throttle asked if any other sports cars from Toyota’s past would be resurrected.

With a grin, Tada-san immediately responded “Celica, MR2, is what I’m guessing? We’ve had many requests from all over”. So far, so vague, but the new company setup does indeed allow for new sports cars.

He went on to say:

“As part of showing that we want to commit to this line [of performance cars], we established the GR Group that specialises in racing and sports cars and what that organisation allows us to do is have specific resources, more resources, for developing sports cars and race cars. [As for] what we will introduce - we will be investigating what will be the most appropriate for us.”

At the Geneva Motor Show last year, Tada-san told journalists that the intention was for Toyota to have a sports car line-up consisting of “The Three Brothers” - the GT86, the Supra and another sports car widely speculated at the time to be an MR2 successor.

Should the MR2 be brought back, we’d expect it to be more like the second-generation car, as opposed to the low-cost, low-powered third-gen machine. After all, the GT86 already occupies the entry-level space and the Supra is expected to be priced at a premium, so it’d make sense for Toyota’s next sports car - whatever it’s called - to slot in between the two.